Fantasy Football Breakdown: Week 13
Host Logan Bourandas and analysts Juan Mendez, Jon Draeger and Drew Prokop look into another week of fantasy football. We look at best starts, sits and waiver wire pickups for Week 13 of NFL action.
Players To Start This Week:
Phillip Rivers, QB, Indianapolis Colts
While Rivers has been one of the most inconsistent quarterbacks in the league this year, he does have an intriguing matchup against a struggling Houston Texans team. Houston’s defense is rated one of the worst in the league and allows an average of 27 points per game as well as over 400 yards per game.
Rivers and the Colts are coming off of a bad divisional loss against the Titans last week, so this could be a scenario where bad Phillip Rivers turns into good Phillip Rivers.
David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears
Montgomery is another player who’s been on and off this season.
After missing a game due to injury, he played great against the Packers scoring over 25 fantasy points and recording his first 100 yard rushing game. This week, Montgomery and the Bears will stay in the division against the struggling Lions.
Detroit recently fired head coach Matt Patricia and has the worst rush defense in the NFL this season. With the Bears questionable quarterback situation, expect them to lean on the second year running back.
Players To Sit This Week:
Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons
Ryan has had a rough time after the Falcons’ bye week, as he’s averaged just over nine points in his last two games. One of those games came against the team he and the Falcons are set to play this week in the New Orleans Saints.
Ryan had his worst performance of the year against New Orleans with just over five points as he threw no touchdowns and two interceptions. The only difference this week, is that it looks like star receiver Julio Jones will not be active.
Melvin Gordon, RB, Denver Broncos
It was a really rough week for all Broncos players as the team got destroyed by the Saints without having a starting quarterback. Even if one of the quarterbacks who was placed on the COVID-19 list comes off this week, it may not make much of a difference.
Facing the division rival Chiefs, this could be a game that gets ugly quick, meaning the Broncos will have to pass the ball often which also means less touches for Gordon who is coming off his worst fantasy performance of the season last week.
Waiver Wire Pickup:
Keke Coutee, WR, Houston Texans
While he hasn’t played well enough to earn a roster spot, Coutee will serve as the beneficiary to the news that star receiver Will Fuller will be suspended for the rest of the season. Fuller had led the Texans in many receiving categories this season but with him gone, Coutee now slides into a starting receiver spot for Houston.
With Randall Cobb on IR, it will basically just be Coutee and Brandin Cooks fighting for targets from Deshaun Watson. Coutee is coming off of a two catch game against the Lions, but caught his first touchdown of the season two weeks ago against the Patriots.
Logan Bourandas is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email lxb5412@psu.edu.
